EPA Brownfields Grant Will Aid City of St. Helens with Plans to Revitalize Waterfront Area

From EPA:

EPA Brownfields Grant Will Aid City of St. Helens with Plans to Revitalize Waterfront Area

Contact Information: Judy Smith, Public Affairs, 503-326-6994; smith.judy@epa.gov

Deborah Burgess, Brownfields Program 360-753-9070;  burgess.deborah@epa.gov

(Seattle – March 17, 2015) The City of St. Helens, Oregon has been selected to receive a $200,000 Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (AWP) grant from EPA to help move towards the goal of revitalizing a former industrial property along the Columbia River waterfront. 

The City of St. Helens will use the funding to work with the community and other stakeholders to develop an area-wide plan and implementation strategy for the downtown waterfront district project area.  The Area-Wide Planning funds will focus on planning to support the revitalization of brownfields along the city’s downtown waterfront, particularly the Veneer Plan and White Paper Mill sites.  Two mill closures in 2008 and 2012 devastated the local economy in the project area and left the 900-acre industrial project area underutilized.  The city will also continue to build on existing planning activities for new business creation, development of transportation links and housing rehabilitation. 

“We support the vision of the City of St. Helens as they work to revitalize and sustainably reuse these historic industrial properties in their community,” said Rick Albright, Director of EPA Region 10 Office of Environmental Cleanup.  Key partners who will work with the city on this project include various public, private and non-profit entities, including Boise Cascade, St. Helens Economic Development Corporation and the Port of St. Helens.

The grant is one of 20 new Brownfields AWP grants selected for funding across the nation.  Assistance provided by this program supports local efforts to perform research needed to develop a plan and implementation strategy to assess, cleanup and reuse brownfields. 

Read the fact sheet on the City of St. Helen AWP proposal: http://go.usa.gov/3CZhY

Read the national announcement listing all 20 winners at:  http://go.usa.gov/3CZGh

For more information on the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program: http://epa.gov/brownfields/areawide_grants.htm